Dark moon
by what happens in my Imagination
Summary: I wrote this story years ago, when i was about seven, so please excuse everything.
1. Chapter 1

**Warning!-**

**I wrote this when I was much younger, so beware.**

**Please no heavy flames.**

Dark moon

1

It was a dark night. **It's the perfect night for me** I thought. I climbed down nimbly from my position on top of the royal tower.

I am an Appian. (Pronounced a-pee-in) No-human could know about my race, because if they did I would have to kill them. I don't like it when humans find out, it's not an easy (or clean) job. I'm a guard for the royal family. The queen and princess rule over all Appians. The king was attacked by a rabid werewolf a few hundred years back and sadly died of the werewolf's saliva, which is poisonous to Appians. That doesn't stop us from having them in our ranks though.

Anyway, as I said, it was a dark night. I was running through the palace grounds, invisible in the dark shadows, except from my red glowing eyes and the gleam of my knives and swords in the pale, ghostly moonlight. In the corridor I bumped into Black Lily, she used to be mentor. She's my boss now. Well, she's in charge of my squad. She has a red ring on her tail, representing her high status among the guard. I don't have a ring yet, you have to earn one by doing something courageous. I don't know what black lily did, but I've heard rumors the she took a poisonous arrow for the queen, but, that was a long time ago.

"What are you doing?" Black lily asked sternly her blazing eyes boring into mine. Her black skin seemed darker in the shadows. I was taller than her by at least a foot, but she has more authority than me so I've got to respect her.

"I'm ending my shift. It's 2 o'clock. I've got to go home before my human wakes up" I answered.

"Humph" was all she said, but she let me go and I ran back towards the city. I live in the city, please don't ask where, I don't want people snooping around, looking for us.

I silently jumped in the window of my room on the 13th floor of the block of flats that I and my human lived in. I arrived just in time for dawn to change me into my human form. My human form was named Jessica, or Jess to my friends. I have long wavy brown hair with bright, clear blue eyes. Unlike my totally black skin, I have dark tanned olive skin. And unlike my fangs and claws, I have perfect teeth and manicured nails. My room was painted deep purple and it was covered in pictures of animals, (which was weird for me since animal didn't like me.) The window was on the south wall of the room, and the curtains were white lace. Holly was sleeping in the next room, not that I was worried that I would wake her. Holly was a very deep sleeper, and very hard to wake. Holly was my roommate. She doesn't know that I am a creature of the night, because if she did she would die. I crept quietly in to bed and waited for morning.

When I woke up I heard the radio booming loudly in the kitchen. It was playing old country songs. (Holly was mad about country things and music. You should see her room. It has cowboy wall paper and a lamp shaped like a cowboy hat.)**Holly must be up then**I thought. I climbed out of bed and put on a bright red jumper and some black jeans. I'm never tired. Not even if I was up all night (which I usually am). I came down the stairs quickly, because somehow Holly would always know when I'm up and she would yell at me till I got out of bed. Down in the kitchen, Holly was cooking breakfast. It was Saturday morning so I had no work. I worked in a clothes store. (So I have two bosses and a giant secret I had to keep from my best friend. And you thought you had troubles). I shoveled down some scrambled eggs and bacon.

"So what are you doing today Jess?" holly asked as she sat down opposite me.

"Don't know, I was thinking about a lazy day, you know, watching some TV movies play some games. Want to join me?" I stood up to wash my plate.

"Oh sorry, I'm going out to the park with Paul." Paul was the human Holly was going out with. He was shorter than holly, which is saying something. (Holly's only 5ft 3.) He had long, black hair which he kept in a ponytail. His face was stern, even with holly, and it scrunched up into a horrid gargoyle mask when he saw me. I don't know what holly saw in him.

"Want to come? It must be better than staying in the house all day"

"Fine I'll come. But no making lovey dovey eyes at him in front of me all right?" I rush upstairs to find my sun glasses. When it's sunny outside my eyes show their true colour. That would be pretty weird to the humans.

We took the 422 bus and found some seats at the back. I looked around to see who was riding on the bus today. A couple of old ladies, a spot-ridden teen and a middle-aged guy that kept on running his hand through his hair. Paul was waiting right outside the bus stop, which was annoying, since I didn't get to even say goodbye to holly before Paul took her by the arm and ushered her away. Left alone, I headed towards the park. I was sitting down on one of the many benches in the park while Holly was with Paul. There was a boy coming towards me.

"May I sit here?" he asked. He didn't wait for an answer, he just seated himself down. The boy had short brown hair and green eyes. He seemed tanned, but I think that was just the sun.

"Hi" he said brightly.

"Hi. You are?" I shot him a dirty look. He seemed overly bright and happy, and I was not in the mood today to be dealing with happy go lucky humans.

"I'm Paul's friend. He dragged me here" the boy, who looked about 19, turned to face me.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Sarren. Yours?" he asked.

"Jessica." I said.

"We should meet up sometime"

"Yeah, you would like that wouldn't you?"

"Actually, I would."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Ok. Bye" Sarren got up and walked away. Just like that.

"Ok, weird" I muttered.

Holly and Paul were coming towards me. I got up and started walking away. I didn't stop till I got on the bus that took me back home. I couldn't stand being so close to Paul. I think he suspects what I am. Which was crazy, since no human couldn't have the slightest idea, could they?

When Holly got home it was 6 o'clock.

"Why'd you leave so soon Jess? We could have had so much fun!" while Holly babbled on about her day, I felt another voice in my head.

Come to the castle immediately_._ I recognized the voice. It was Black Lily.

"Sorry Holly I've got to dash!" I ran outside ignoring Holly's protests.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's chapter 2

Thank you pondsplash800 for your review.

2

When I got to the castle I was still in human form. It was not unusual for the security to be tight, but tonight it was especially tight. As I came running up the guards bared their teeth and started to come towards me.

"Stop!" I cried. "Night Hunter, ranking number- 652"

The guards let me walk past them reluctantly. As soon as I walked through the front door I changed. Black Lily met me in the corridor.

"What's the problem?" I asked, still walking.

"There's an assassin trying to kill Oxanna. It made an attempt last night, but the assassin ran away"

Oxanna was the queen of all Appians. I gasped silently.

"So you want me to stay here and help protect the castle?" I suggested.

"No I want you to go back to the normal routine, but I will call you if we need back up. You're one of our strongest fighters. Do you understand?" she barked.

"I understand." I saluted and started jogging back home. It was a really short conversation, which was quite unusual, since black lily usually talked and talked and talked, going through all the drills I had already memorized. The castle was in the forest right behind my flat. The forest is up a quite big hill and the castle was smack bang in the middle. Humans rarely go that far because there was "grizzly bears" roaming around. (Someone probably made up that rumour from seeing Iro.)

It was just before dawn and I climbed back up to my flat. No one saw me as I hadn't changed yet. The window was open like it always was and I climbed inside. While doing it I knocked over a lamp that stood beside my window. I bent down to pick it up. While setting it up, I bang my head on the ceiling. Surprisingly enough, human buildings weren't made to accommodate Appians. Funny that. Suddenly the light flicked on in the hall way.

"Jess, you ok in there?" holly called. Holly must have been awake, waiting for me.

"Yeah I'm fine, but don't come in!" I called back. I couldn't let her see me like this.

"Why?"

"Because you can't!"

"Come on Jess, you know you can tell me! Are you hurt?"

"I'm not hurt. I'm sorry, but I really can't tell you!"

"Sure you can. I'm coming in, ready or not!" holly's voice had that tinge of playfulness that meant only one thing. She won't stop till she finds out my secret. The door was slowly opening.

"No! Don-"I started to say but it was too late. Holly had opened the door.

Holly took one look at me and screamed.

"Shhhh! It's me holly! It's me Jess! Shut up!" I cried. Holly cowered in the door way.

"w-w-w-what are you?" she asked

"It's me Jess, I know I don't look like me right now, but when the sun rises you'll recognise me. It's me Jessica"

I took a step closer to her. Holly scrambled back into the hall way. Holly looked into my eyes. They were red, but she seemed to recognise me.

"Is that really you Jess?" holly stood up slowly. Holly lost some of her fright, and gained a slight interest glint in her eyes. This time she walked towards me.

"Yeah, it is" I answered. Holly stood right in front of me. She touched my arm. The fine fur that covered my body twitched and the touch. The sun broke the darkness and I transformed. It wasn't spectacular or anything, I just changed. Holly gasped softly. I wrapped my arms around her and closed my eyes.

"It is really you isn't it?" holly whispered.

"Yeah it is."I answered. We hugged for what seemed to be an eternity. When we finally broke apart I said,

"Get some sleep. I'll tell you everything in the morning" just then the sun came up. Since I didn't have my glasses on, the light made my eyes glow a deep red. Holly gasped and stood back. I knew she wasn't going to run away, she was just trying to see my eyes clearly. I turned away.

"Don't, I like your eyes" she smiled faintly.

Holly was my human. Few night creatures got their own humans, and the humans that are picked had some sort of power that will be helpful to the guards. Holly hasn't shown her power yet, but the queen is never wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

**Once again, please no flames. I wrote this when I was quite young. **

3

The sun was high in the sky when I woke up. I dragged myself out of bed, for once feeling tired. I pulled on a dressing gown and trudged down stairs. Holly was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper and sipping coffee.

"Morning holly." I said.

She looked up at me and put her newspaper down. She looked at me for what seemed like hours. She stared deep into my eyes before answering.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Holly looked hurt. She had dark bags under her eyes.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" I asked. "But anyway, I didn't want to tell you because I thought you would freak out that you were living with a 7 foot tall monster!"

"You're not a monster" holly said quietly. "Tell me"

"Tell me what?" I said.

"Everything about you. I've know you so long but now I feel like you're a stranger to me" I sat down next to her. I took a deep breath before answering.

"Well, my race is called the Appia. It is about 300,000,000 million years old. The original king and queen were viktor and Eliza. The queen now is Eliza's daughter, Oxanna. I am her niece or something." I saw holly's eyes widen.

"What, it's not that interesting." I said, looking away.

The sun was shining outside and holly had left the window open. It shone on my face and my eyes glittered red. I turned away again. It was an automatic reflex.

"no." holly gently took my head in her hands." your eyes are pretty."

"Uhh, thanks" I said, pulling away. There was a voice in my head.

Night hunter, come to the castle quickly! The assassin is in the building!

"Sorry holly got to dash!" I started pushing past her. She stopped me.

"Why do you have to go now? You're always running off to someplace or other, and you always come back in the middle of the night. I don't like it. Take me with you." She said. Holly shot me one of her looks that said, you're not leaving me here. I knew I couldn't argue with her, not right now.

"Fine. Come along with me, but you better keep up." And we headed for the door.

We headed up the hill behind the flats and disappeared into the woods.

"Where are we going?" holly whispered. I didn't answer. I didn't want to. As we came in view of the castle I could see Iro running towards me. Holly hid slightly behind me. He looked at me then at holly.

"What is a human doing here?" he asked quietly in my ear.

"She had to come with me. She knows what I am." I replied. "Anyway, we have more important problems right now. Where is the assassin?"

"We last found him on the 4th floor"

"Ok, can you take Holly to my room please?" Iro nodded and ushered holly to come with him. Holly looked terrified. Well, so would you. Iro is a werewolf. Looks kinda human, but with a wolf tail, lots of fur and long sharp nails. Oh and a muzzle with fangs.

"It's ok, he won't hurt you." I whispered to her. I left her with Iro and ran inside.

I changed inside and I'm sure I heard a gasp. I ignored it and headed off towards the grand hall. Black ride was waiting for just outside it. Black ride was a fallen angel. No that didn't mean he was evil, he was just, well, I don't know actually what he was. I don't know what happened to him, he doesn't like to talk about it. Black ride has huge, black wings and he was always topless. His eyes are completely white, so you can't see any pupils. He and a few others (and me of course) made our way down to the 4th level. The castle was made up of 20 levels and 5 towers. I don't know why the assassin was on the 4th level, there was nothing there except from the guard's rooms, including mine. Suddenly there was movement behind black ride. I jumped over him and pulled out my knives. It was the assassin. The assassin pulled out two gleaming white knives from its dark grey robe and attacked me. I had the first swipe but I missed and I went forward and an elbow jabbed at my back. I fell forward. The others had gotten into fight. I jumped up and attacked the assassin from behind. The assassin took the blow and fell down. I pinned the assassin down with my knee and had my knives at the assassin's throat. Defeated, the assassin spoke.

"You know me night hunter, you know me from long ago. I will have my revenge on you" the assassin was male. Then suddenly he disappeared. I stood there looking lost. We stood there for a moment.

"Come on, let's go" I said to black ride. He barked at his crew and we ran back to the grand hall.

"I've got to find holly." I said to black ride when we got back. I didn't wait for him to answer. I just ran up the stairs to my room. Holly was sitting on my bed when I came in. she was sitting on my bed. Her feet dangled off the edge, not touching the floor.

"You have a big bed" holy laughed softly.

"Well I'm a big person, creature thing." I sat down with her. There was another bed on the other side of the room.

"Whose bed is that, I mean just out of curiosity" holly seemed embarrassed to ask.

"Oh that's black rides. He's a fallen angel. He flies all over the castle grounds keeping as his eye out for threats to the " I answered. At that moment black ride came in. he had a long pink scar over his shoulder.

"How deep?" I asked.

"Only about 3 inches" he answered.

Holly gasped. That must have been very deep to her, but like me, black ride heals very fast, so it would only be a cut to him. He suddenly noticed holly sitting beside me.

"What is a human doing here?" he seemed furious. This was new. Black ride was usually always emotionless, except when he was with me, then he usually laughed or grinned.

"She knows what I am! She found out! It wasn't my fault!" wasn't shouting, but I had raised my voice.

"Should I leave?" holly asked.

"No stay here. You don't know your way around" I said softly.

"I shouldn't have shouted. I'm sorry" I stood up to walk towards him. He just turned away.

"Take her away" black ride spat.

"Fine. Let's go. Come on holly." I led her out of the room, being careful not to meet black ride's eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's chapter four. I'm just gonna post the rest of the chapters in a bunch. No flames please. **

4

I was carrying holly before we got home. She was so tired she just collapsed. The sun rose in the sky, but I didn't change.

Great I'm not changing. What else could go wrong? I thought. Iro was in my head again.

You're to come to the castle and face court. Great. I put holly in her bed, fully dressed, and climbed out the window.

In the grand hall I faced the queen and the princess hoping I wouldn't get killed. The penalty of revealing your existence to a human was a death sentence. That or you served a life sentence in the castle's cellars. Either way it was a bad way to go. I walked in slowly, not meeting anyone's eyes, just looking straight ahead. When I was in front of the queen and princess, I bowed low and long. The queen was wearing a long, billowing red and black robe.

"Do you know why you are here?" Oxanna asked.

"Yes I do your highness. I am here because I was not careful and my human now knows what I am." I answered.

"When and where did she find you?"

"It was just before dawn, after I got back from black lily telling me to keep my guard up, and I had just gotten in my room by the window when she flicked the light on and saw me"

"You should have been more careful." Oxanna said sternly, like a mother scolding her child.

"Yes, I should have" there were soft murmurs from the princess and the queen. There was a long silence.

"I have decided. You do not have to kill your human nor will you be killed yourself."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You will not be able to change, nor be able to interact with humans. You shall live here, and put on guard duty full time. If you break these rules you shall be punished. Are we clear?"

My heart fell.

"Yes your highness" I bowed and walk to the door. I turned around and shouted,

"It wasn't my fault! She was the one who found me! She should have been asleep!" some of the guards leaned forward, like they were going to attack me. I ran to my room and sat down. I curled my tail around me and cried.

There was a knock at the door. It was the princess. She was just like me except she had a bronze ring on her tail, representing her status among the royal family. She had bronze streaks in her hair as well, representing the same thing.

"May I come in?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure" I answered. She came and sat down beside me.

"I shouldn't have shouted." I started ringing my tail like it was wet.

"No, no, I Know what it's like. A long time ago a best friend of mine, human, found out what I was. He was a good friend, a best friend. But he was taken away; they didn't bother wiping his mind, because the other humans didn't believe whatever he said. I kept an eye on him, making sure he stayed sane. He eventually found a place to stay with another human."

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Sarren"

My tail twitched at that. There was a silence. I thought about it. Should I tell her about Sarren or not? I decided that I would tell her.

"Princess, I think I've met him. Short brown hair? Lives with a human named Paul?"

"Yes"

"my human is going out with your human's friend, Paul."

"I could get him back to you"

"You could?" veela looked hopeful.

"Yeah, but I can't go outside grounds and I'm on guard duty full time"

"I think I could help that I could talk to my mother and see what I can do" veela got up and walked gracefully to the door." You know, things could change" she smiled and left me wondering.

The next day, I got up at 3 o'clock (AM) and got ready for my day. Black ride was already up and out. His bed was tidied neatly and his window curtains were open. It was like I never even shared a room with anyone. I tidied my bed and pulled my hair in to a pony tail. I jumped all the down the stairs. I met with black ride in the dining hall.

"Morning, black." I had raw beef and lamb for breakfast. Black ride didn't answer. He just waited for me to finish. I gulped down the meat and headed off to my position. My position was in the royal tower, the highest tower in the kingdom. I was watching the lake when something caught my eye.

It was small and was all white. I think it was wearing a robe until it looked up to face me. It was horrible. It was naked and was so skinny you could see its ribs even from the royal tower. I sent a mental warning to black ride.

Black, there is something near the lake do you see it?

I see it. What do you think it is?

I don't know. Take a look and I report it to the others.

When did you become so bossy? I could see black ride swooping down to take a closer look. Black lily, guards, we have a creature at the lake. It looks about a 2-4.

Thanks night hunter, I'll send a team. Black lily replied. I climbed out the window and down the wall, easily finding footholds. When I got down, I ran straight to the lake. It was only about 2 miles from the castle so I got there in about a minute. Black ride was standing over the white creature. As I said, it was very, very skinny.

"What is it?" I asked. Black ride frowned.

"I think it's a child." He said.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5. no flames please and thank you. **

5

"A child?" I bent down to get a closer look. Sure enough, it was a little girl. Since she had no clothes on, it was easy to tell. Her breath was short and quick. She had her eyes closed and when she opened them and saw me, she screamed. I mean and ear-splitting screech. Since my ears were very sensitive, it hurt. A lot.

"Shhh! It's okay!" I said softly. The girl clambered up and ran behind black ride, terrified. She didn't even seem to notice his wings as she clasped bundles of it with her little hands. She peered round him.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked.

"Oh I don't know, maybe she reacted like any human would." I could hear the sarcasm drip from his words.

"You can talk" I said, eyeing his wings. The whimpered and hid behind black ride again.

"Don't hurt me" the girl whispered. Her voice was soft and silky.

"Do you have a name sweetheart?" black ride asked as he turned around to look at her. Since when could black ride be so gentle? He fought everything from grizzly bears to Heat jaw Burner dragons.

"H-H-Hope, I think" she looked over his shoulder at me.

"Please don't let the dark one hurt me" she whispered in his ear. I could hear it loud and clear, but I wasn't going to tell her that and neither would Black ride. I hope. But Black ride didn't show that I had heard her and replied,

"It's ok I won't."

"Do you have a name?" Hope asked. She directed it at Black ride, being careful not to make eye-contact with me.

"Yes I do. My name is Black ride, and the one you call the dark one is called night hunter" he said my name as a punishment, I guess he was still mad at me.

"What sort of name is Black ride?" Hope asked.

"What sort of name is Hope?" Black ride replied.

"Touché" Hope giggled a little that turned into a coughing fit. "You're an angel" she said looking at his wings

"Fallen angel" black ride corrected.

"Does that mean your evil then?" Hope looked puzzled.

"No that doesn't mean I'm ev-"

"Look, sorry to but in but can you take hope inside now? Cause I can hear that team of guards that black lily sent, and if that's how she reacted with me, think of what she'll do with 5 others." I said urgently, looking over my shoulder to see 5 black blobs coming towards us.

"Good point. Come on Hope, you're coming with me" Black ride said. Hope clung to Black ride like her life depended on it.

"Get her something to eat and wear. I'll handle these guys." I said ushering them away. I sent a mental thought to the guards. Don't worry guys, I've got this covered. I'll inform you later, but right now I need to tell the queen about something and you need to return to your posts. They didn't dare question me; I had a higher ranking than them. I was almost a mentor. I darted off towards the castle.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6. no flames please. **

6

I went to find Black ride and Hope. I looked for them on 8 floors before finding them in our room. Black ride was trying to get Hope to eat raw meat. Hope was pushing away, her mouth clamped shut.

"No black, you have you cook it first. Humans don't eat meat raw." I said, taking the meat away from him." Where did you get this anyway?"

"Well let's just say Bertha went to better place" Black ride looked around nervously. Hope was playing with some of Black ride's feathers that had fallen on the floor.

"This place is full of dark ones" she said simply, her eyes round with worry turning to Black ride.

"Yes but, these are good darks ones, not like dying thorn" he said. "I had a talk with her while you were coming back. It turns out that she was kidnapped by one of your kind."

"That name, I recognise it" I started to pace up and down the room when there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Black ride called.

"It's me Veela, may I come in?" the voice called.

"Come in!" I called. Veela stepped in.

"I had a talk with my mother an-" she saw Hope sitting on the floor." What is that?"

Don't say anything! We found her near the lake. We were about to tell your mother when you came in. I thought.

"So, you were saying?" I asked.

"You're allowed to go outside in human form once a day, but only for one hour" Veela said this without taking her eyes off Hope.

"Go get your mother now" I urged Veela nodded and walked briskly out of the room.

"So Hope, what happened to you?" Black ride picked her up again.

"Well, I don't remember much, but I'll tell you what I can.

It started a while ago. I was asleep when someone took me away from my bed. I didn't cry or yell or shout, I was so stunned at what I saw. Then, it all went black. Someone stood over me. It was weird. When it spoke to me, it was obvious it was male.

Welcome, I hope you will find it, promising here he spoke with his mind. I don't know what he meant, but I didn't like it there. When he didn't speak to me with his mind, he was all black, but when he did, he had these brilliant blue stripes that covered his whole body. He set me up to find fire wood in a forest for hours. By the time I got back my arms were aching. But he didn't stop there. He probed my mind, and it hurt me. He didn't feed me. He didn't even tell me where I was. Eventually I managed to run away when he was out. He said he was going somewhere. Just before he left, he told me his name. Dying thorn. I wandered round, looking for some where to stay. I found some mushrooms to eat, but they just made me sick. I was thirsty. Oh so very thirsty. I saw a lake and I ran towards it. I had used up all my energy running, so I just collapsed and passed out. When I woke up, and a man with wings and a dark one was standing over me. You know the rest"

There was a knock on the door.

"We're here!" a voice called.

"Come in!" I called. The queen and princess walked in. Veela, who walked behind Oxanna, had her head down. Oxanna spoke first.

"Where is the child?" her voice ringed with authority.

"Right here" I said, gesturing to Hope. Hope was making pictures with her finger on the floor.

"Don't go back to your room till the maids have cleaned it" Hope said absent-mindedly.

"What does she mean?" Oxanna sounded confused.

"I have no idea." I said. Suddenly there was a loud ringing sound blaring. Hope covered her ears and lunged under the bed as fast as a weak skinny child could go. (Which isn't very fast by the way).

"There's a breach in the south wall!" Oxanna called suddenly." Night hunter, Black ride come with me. Veela, stay with the child."

"But mother!" Veela wailed. "I want to fight!"

"No! You're too important to the kingdom!" ignoring Veela's protests, Oxanna lead us out the door and into the grand hall. The corridors were packed with creatures, running to get to their positions. We picked up Iro and running paw, another werewolf. He was the thick head in the guard. (It turns out that were wolves are one of the best fighter species).

"Where is he?" I asked.

"North wall" said running paw. He knew every nook and cranny of the castle. We began running so fast I ran into Black lily.

"What do you think you're doing? Get to your position!"

"Sorry Black lily, but gotta rush!" I yelled from down the corridor.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7. no flames please. **

7

We sprinted towards the north wall. There was the assassin, holding one of the royals. (The royals were part of the royal family. Like me for example) I lunged for him, dagger in hand. I had misjudged my jump and I caught his robe. It made him flinch, which gave the royal time to wrestle out of his hold and run away. As she was doing this, the assassin's hood fell down. For a split second, I saw his face. It shocked me. I recognised his face. I flashed back to when I was a child.

It was a rare sunny day and I was in the outside courtyard. My mother was with me. There was someone else too. My mother was telling him off. I wandered over, to find that my mother was holding him.

"Shhh darling, night will look after you when I'm away. You will won't you, you'll look after thorn?" My mother had said.

"Yes mother, but you will come back soon won't you?" I answered.

"Yes I will darling. I just have to do some work abroad for a while" the little boy looked at me.

"You will look after me won't you sister?"

I now realise where I had seen his face. He was my brother. After zoning out, the others had chased the assassin away.

After doing a run round check of the grounds, we made our way back to our dorm rooms.

Hope was still hiding under black ride's bed, with veela trying to coax her out.

"Here, veela I'll take it from here" black ride bent down and reached his arms under. It took a while, but black ride finally managed to get hope out from under the bed. Hope was shivering.

"I'll get her some clothes" veela said, "Look at her, she's freezing!" I jumped. I had forgotten that she was still there. Once veela had gone, I spoke quietly to black ride.

"I think I know who the assassin is"

Black ride looked amazed. "Who?"

"Do you remember I had a brother?" black ride seemed to realize.

"But he died in the fire!" there had been a large fire in the castle a long time ago. Everyone was evacuated, but one of the large wooden beams had fallen on dying thorn. I couldn't save him. "He's dead!"

"Or so I thought" I reached under my bed to pull out a box. I opened it and took out something. It was an old photo. It was of my mother, my brother and I. it was taken just before my mother left. "What do you think?" black ride looked at the picture for a moment.

"Yeah. That's him" there was a knock at the door.

"Just me!" Veela's voice called from behind the door. Veela came in holding a small bundle of clothes. "Here, these were the smallest I could get" she handed the clothes to hope and sat down. Hope laid them on the floor. It was a black robe and underwear. She slipped them on and look at herself in the mirror.

"Why'd you take the black ones?" I whispered to veela.

"They were the only ones that had extra extra small." Replied veela. Just then, the queen came into the room.

"Come with me, and bring the girl." Oxanna said bristly.

We followed her to her room. There on the floor was the maid. She had two small punctures on her neck.

"How do you know there was danger in my room?" Oxanna directed the question to hope.

"I don't know, I just knew it. There was a vampire in your room." Hope said. She walked over to the maid, whose name I think was fast claw. Hope bent down and touched the blood pouring from fats claw's neck. "Her name is topaz"

"But what is topaz doing here? She should be with her sisters." The queen looked confused and thoughtful. Everyone knew that there were only ten vampires left in the world. They were sisters and they refused to make any other vampires. They usually stuck together, but they sometimes split up. Thought there were ten vampires, only nine ever showed up anywhere. We didn't know the tenth vampire's name, or where she is. We don't even know if there actually is a tenth vampire.

"I don't know, but maybe she is closer than you think" said a voice behind us. I whipped around, pulling out a dagger at the same time. I lunged forward, grabbing at the person's neck. It was then I realized who it was.

"What are you doing here topaz?" I spat.

"First, sorry about the maid, don't worry she'll live. And second, I need your help. So you can let go of me and I'll tell you why." As I let go of her, Topaz's gold eyes flickered to hope. "What's a human doing here?"

"We found her near the lake." Black ride said, grabbing onto hope's shoulder.

"So that's what I sensed! Any way as I said, I need your help.

"I think we are done here" the queen ushered us out, calling some guards to take away fast claw.

"Hey! But I never got to tell you about my little problem!"

" You can tell me about it later. Black ride, you take hope and try to find her parents, veela, you come with me to talk to topaz, and night hunter, and you go back to your human."

"Really? But what about my palace arrest?" I asked. I was so happy.

"Yes really. I think your human will need a bit of protecting. Here you'll need to wear this. You'll be able to change to your human form" the queen threw me a ring. It was made of gold, with a ruby rose in the middle. I put it on and practically skipped with joy down the hall way.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8. No flames please. **

8

When I got back to flat it was locked. I fumbled a round for the key before I realized I didn't have it. I rang the doorbell a couple of times. When the door finally opened, it wasn't holly, it was Paul.

"You're back. I'll go tell holly" without even a smile, Paul walked towards holly's room. I walked into the living room, feeling uncomfortable. Holly came down the stairs, looking sleepy but happy. She hugged me hard, crying at the same time.

"Oh you're back, you're back, you're back! Where have you been? I've be so worried about you! I wasn't sure to tell the police, but it doesn't matter now your back!" I peeled her off me and laughed.

"Yeah, I'm back. What is Paul doing here?" I whispered to her.

"Oh, he was keeping me company while you were gone. You should have told me where you were going!"

"Look, I'll tell you later, when Paul isn't here."

"Oh is it about you-know-what?" I nodded. "Ahhh" suddenly, a figure popped his head out my room.

"Hey, what's going on here? Hey, Jessica you're back!"

"What are you doing in my room Sarren?" I spat.

"There wasn't enough room in holly's room, so I had to sleep in your room. Paul dragged me along here when he heard about you missing."

"Well since I'm back, you can all go home now" I said letting go of holly.

"Night Hun-I mean Jessica! That's mean! Let them a least stay the night" I glared at her.

"Fine I'll tell you in the morning. Goodnight everyone" I trudged up stairs.

I was just falling to sleep when someone came into my room. I jumped up and using the bed as a jumping board, sprang on the intruder. Keeping the intruder in a head lock, I pressed one of my (many) daggers to its neck.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" it was Sarren.

"What are you doing my room?" I asked, letting him go.

"As I told you before, there wasn't enough room in holly's room, so I have to sleep in your room. And where did you get that dagger?"

"First, go jump out the window, and second, I always keep a dagger with me, for defensive purposes" I put the dagger back on my bedside table and went to the closet and pulled out a duvet and pillows. "Here, you can sleep on the floor." Sarren took the duvet and pillows.

"Thanks. How did you move so fast? I mean I never saw you coming" I thought about telling him in the morning, but there was no time.

"Veela" I said quietly.

"Huh?"

"You know what I'm talking about"

"No, I don't" Sarren look distressed.

"Yes, you do. Veela, your best friend. Or was until you found out what she was."

"How do you know that? I never told anybody." I sighed and took off my ring. At once I changed. I was wearing my guard clothes. A black tank top and a pair of black shorts. All my daggers and swords were there too. My head bumped against the ceiling. My tail curled around my arm, as if it had a mind of its own. Sarren gasped. "You….. Your one of them!" he cried.

"Shhh! keep it down! There are some people here that don't know what I am!"

"Does holly know?"

"Yes"

"But Paul doesn't"

"Well done" I said sarcastically.

Sarren sat down. I put the ring back on. "Veela wants to see you again"

"Really?"

"Yes really. Look, I'll talk to you in the morning with holly. We'll see if we can sort this out" I made sure Sarren was fully asleep before I went back to bed and fell asleep myself.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9. No flames please. **

9

I was woken by a knock at the door. I sat up sleepily. (Well, I was pretending to be sleepy. I don't really need sleep remember?)

"What?"

Holly popped her head in.

"Jess, we need to talk. Sarren, will you please go get dressed, Paul's almost ready to go." I sighed and shook my head.

"Sarren can stay. He knows."

"What?"

"He knows." It was then Sarren slowly pulled his head up and said,

"What do I know?"

"You know what I am" I said reaching to pull my ring off.

"No, don't do that you don't need to prove it"

"Fine" I sat down. "What was it that you wanted to talk about holly?"

"Where were you?" holly sat down beside me, eyeing up Sarren.

"After you followed me to the castle, the princess and the queen had a trial and I was banned from visual or physical contact with you or other humans. That was until the vampires showed up. Topaz, one of the ten vampire sisters, fed on one of the maids. She told us that she has a little problem. The queen then told me to go back home, because since you and Sarren are gifted, you might need protecting." There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Sarren was the first to speak.

"Wait, I'm gifted? What do you mean?"

"Each human that befriends an Appian has a gift. It has to be an Appian with a high ranking, such as a royal or family of a royal."

"Then what's my gift?" Sarren asked. I shrugged.

"Don't know yet. Your gift will emerge though. They always do" I slowly pulled off my ring and transformed. I stretched like a cat and sat back down, all the time feeling eyes on me.

"What?" I asked.

"Why'd you do that? What if Paul comes in?" Holly asked.

"Well how would you like if you were stuck in a small space all the time?"

"What?"

"I'm much bigger than my human form, so I have to adapt to it. Imagine that you were stuck in a box, standing up, that was 3 feet too small. You would want to get out too, wouldn't you?"

"Well, yes"

"You see?"

"What about you Sarren?" I turned to him. He didn't answer, he just looked at me. Well, not at me, but just past me. I looked to where he was looking, but I didn't see anything. "What are you looking at?"

"I think he's looking at your tail, Jess." Holly said.

"Sarren!" I put my face close to his. He jumped and fell backwards. Holly and I laughed.

"Don't do that" he looked hurt, but I could see the embarrassment in his eyes. It was then the door started to open.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10. No flames please. **

10

I looked for my ring, but I couldn't see it. I stood up, ready to jump out the window If I had to.

"Holly, is Sarren ready to go?" Paul came into the room and stopped dead. "You. I knew it was you all along! I could sense it." He took out a knife from his trousers and lunged at me. I grasped for my own knife, but not before Paul had caught me on the shoulder. It went right in, just between my collar bone and my shoulder blade, and it hurt. A lot. It must have been white gold, the only thing that hurts Apians. I grabbed my knife and swiped at him. I missed, but only just.

"Get out of here!" I yelled. When they didn't move, I picked both of them up and threw them out the door. I turned back to Paul and started circling him. "So what are you doing here?"

"I'm here because you are" Paul's voice seemed lower and I'm sure he had gotten taller.

"And why is that?"

"It is because I am one of the immortals" I shivered. The immortals were a horrible race. They had tried to take over the world, but my people stopped them. Ever since, the immortals have been caught and killed. Only a few hundred of them are left. They don't actually looked like humans, they just use them disguise. I mean they literally use them for disguise. They don't create another being like us; they take the soul out of living humans and put their souls into them. What they actually look like is a mystery. No one has actually ever seen them in their natural form. There has been stories that they are nine feet tall, have arms the size of a were wolves leg, a mouth so big you could fit your head in and nails 5 inches long. But those are just stories, aren't they?

"So you're here to kill me"

"No. I was sent here to recruit Holly. You are just a bonus." I stopped circling him and lunged at him. I missed. We attacked each other a few more times before I got bored. I struck him in the chest, my gold and diamond dagger killing him instantly.

"Actually, you're the bonus. See ya" I whispered in his ear as he died. I sat backwards, breathing hard. Holly slowly opened the door, her eyes widening when she saw Paul.

"What did you do to him?"

"What does it look like? I killed him"

"Why?"

"He was going to kill me! What could I do? Just let him stab me to death? I need to go see oxanna. You guys come with me; I'm not letting you out of my sight." I pushed them out the door and down the stairs. Sarren, not fully understanding the situation, asked,

"Where are we going?"

"To the palace" I replied. We were just about to go out the front door when Holly stopped me and said,

"What about your ring Jess? You still look, you know, different." I gave an eye roll and answered,

"There is no time. We have to get to the palace as fast as we can!"

When we arrived at the castle, the queen was waiting for us.

"Ahh, Night hunter, I knew you would come back soon."

"We need to get these human protected at once." I said.

"Why night hunter? Surely you can protect these people from harm" the queen looked at me intensely with her red eyes.

"Because the immortals are here" I said, pulling Sarren away from a screeching death plant. (We plant dangerous plants such as a screeching death plant to help with the defences.)

Oxanna nodded. "Well, you better go inside then. Oh, and alert, black ride, won't you?"

"Yes your highness" I did a quick bow and ushered Holly and Sarren inside.

I found Black ride in our room. He was sweeping the floor, and there was small pile of feathers beside him. He must be moulting again, I thought. He turned round when I thought that, almost like he could hear my thoughts.

"Your back" he almost sounded happy.

"Yeah, I'm back, and I brought friends" I pulled Sarren and Holly into the room.

"Why'd you bring them?" Black ride looked angry, and sad.

"Because it too dangerous out there for them"

"Why?"

"Immortals" Black ride stopped sweeping.

"What?"

"I told, you immortals. I killed one in Holly's flat. And I need to protect them both until we have more info about the immortals" Holly had hopped up onto my bed and Sarren had followed suit. I sat down with them. The room was silent. Black ride just stood there, staring at me. We stared at each other for what seemed like hours, until Hope walked in.

"Black ride, the chefs wont cook my food again." That broke Black ride out of his trance.

"I'll go talk to them, Hope you stay with Night hunter and her friends" Black Ride put the broom down and left the room. I looked back at hope. She was wearing a little white dress that suited her perfectly. She looked better. She wasn't as thin and her hair looked brushed. Her grey eyes looked around brightly.

"Hi Hope. This is Sarren and Holly. I need to talk to Black ride. I'll be backing soon, ok?" Hope nodded and hopped up onto my bed beside holly.

Black ride was speaking quietly to one of the chefs. "Look, will you just spend a little more time to cook a steak?"

"I'll think about it. Now, there are other people in line, are you going to get something, or are you just going to stand there?" Black left and bumped into me. I gazed into his eyes and said,

"What is with you? I bring Holly, One of the gifted, and you hate me. I bring Sarren another one of the gifted, and you can't stand to be in the same room. Pulled him into the corridor and asked, "What's wrong?"

He stared back and said, "Let me tell you a story. My brothers and I lived high up in the clouds. We lived up there because the humans were afraid of us. We were kind creatures, so we hid from them. I had the finest clothes, parties every night and feasts every evening. But I was never truly happy. In that time my wings were white. There was a portal between the palace and the earth. We took turns looking through it. I, being youngest, was last. But when I finally looked through it I was disappointed. Where lush grassland and hillside should have been, were buildings and houses and factories. I was about to give up, when I saw this beautiful maiden. I knew from the first sight that I loved her. She was not human, but in the day she was. And at night she was a beautiful creature of the night. Leaving my house, family and life I flew down towards earth. It took many days, but I was determined not to give up. When I was flying, I wondered what had made me leave my life. What I didn't know was that my wings had turned a dull grey. My heart yearned for that maiden, and I kept trying. I flew at night, undetected by the humans. When I reached the palace where the maiden lived, the queen of the palace kindly took me in. my wings had turned from grey to black when I entered the palace. I learned to fight, keeping an eye on the maiden. Loving her secretly, I chose to be her partner. But when she brought the human into the palace, I was out raged. It was only supposed to be her and me! I was angry, but sad too. I loved her, yet she didn't show the same feelings back. I gave up, and tried to avoid her as much as I could. And that was when we found the child. Just looking at the child reminded me of her. So pure, so honest, so innocent, it finally gave me hope. I could be with the one I loved, if I just tried." Black ride looked at me, waiting to answer, but I couldn't. He was talking about me. I was the beautiful maiden. All I could say was,

"Your name. What was it when you lived with your brothers?"

"It was Angelos"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11. sorry for the horribly written sappy parts. I'm bad at writing feelings. No flames please. **

11

"Angelos. Your name was Angel?" I stared into his white, glistening eyes.

"Yes, but you're missing the point. You now know why I came down."

"It was me. That's why you came down. You have that many feelings for me?"

"Yes. From the moment I saw you, I knew I loved you."

"I love you too"

Black ride stared at me in amazement. "You do?"

I nodded, and kissed him. It was warm and it made my head go fuzzy, but the best thing was that Black ride didn't pull away. We kissed for what seemed for hours. When we finally broke a part, I was smiling. And so was he.

"Race you back to the room" I said as I started running.

"Hey! No fair! You got a head start!" he yelled after me and started running after me. Black ride won by flying up the stairs and beat me by just 2 meters. We burst in the door to find Hope crying. I glanced at Holly, who was comforting her. She looked at me with anxious eyes. Her hands were covered in blood.

"What happened?" I said crouching in front of Hope.

"H-h-he's h-here! Inside t-t-the building!" Hope said between sobs.

"Who?" it was Black that was speaking now.

"Dying thorn!" She practically yelled. I looked at Black. He looked at me. We both had the same thought.

"Royal chambers" Black and I said at the same time.

"But where did the blood come?" from I asked. Hope looked up. Her face was covered in blood. Where tears should have been, blood poured from her face. I was horrified. "Black, you go alert Black lily, I'll go do alert the queen." Black ride nodded and left the room. I turned back to Hope. "You have to tell me what happened" I said. Hope was crying so badly I don't think she could get the words out.

"I'll tell you what happened. When you left, Hope and I chatted for a bit. Then, all of a sudden, she started crying. It was then the blood started. It came from her eyes, just like tears. And she just kept on saying, "he's here. He's after her" I didn't know what it meant, but I didn't like it. Then you showed up." Holly answered for her.

"Thanks. I gotta go now; will you try and clean up hope?" I didn't wait for an answer; I just bounded out the door and down the stairs.

The queen was consulting with Garnet about when I burst in the door.

"He's here! In the building!" I gasped. The queen stood up.

"Who?"

"My brother"

"But he's dead!"

"Not, he's not. And he's here, right now"

"How did you gain this knowledge?"

"Hope had a vision or something"

"How do you know that the child was telling the truth?"

"She was crying blood." There was a silence. The queen looked thought full.

"Gather up our best Fighters and a few rookies too and go find him. I will see what I can do to help" the queen finally said. "Here. You may need this." She handed me two gold bracelets, joined by a thin stand of sliver. I attached one to my wrist and Bowed.

"Thank you. I must go now." And I ran off to seek fighters. I managed to gather iro, running paw, black ride, black lily, huntress and the few rookies that were still in training. They seemed to be excited and scared at the same time. One of them came up to me and said,

"is this an exercise?" she said. I think her name was death strike.

"No. it's not." I replied to her. Her eyes got big and she ran back to her group. I rolled my eyes and caught up with black ride.

"are you ready for this?" I asked him.

"As ready as I'll ever be" he answered, and kissed me. It took me by surprise, and it knocked me backwards. He caught me just in time. I gazed into his eyes. Then I saw something behind him. It was dying thorn, up on the ceiling. I widened my eyes and caught black ride looking worryingly at me. I shook my head, which meant-don't do what I'm doing. I righted myself and whispered to him,

"he's up on the ceiling." Black ride nodded and stretched his wings casually. Once they were at full length, he shot up. He grabbed dying thorn and threw him on the ground. I jumped over to him and held one of my daggers to his throat. I bent down slowly, leaning on him the whole time. Then I whispered in his ear,

"Why are you here?"

"to get pay back for leaving me in the fire!" he said, disappearing. I bounced back up, already in a fighting stance. It was all quiet until I heard a cry. Dying thorn had one of the rookies. He held a dagger to her throat.

"come near me she dies" he growled.

I laughed. Everyone looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Oh, I won't come near you, but he will" I said gesturing towards Black ride. He was in there like a flash. He knocked the dagger out of Dying thorn's hand brought the rookie back to the group.

"nine against one? That doesn't seem very fair now does it?" he gave me a playful grin.

"no, it doesn't. That's why it should be just you and me Thorn" I gave him the exact same grin back, being careful to show my teeth, so it was more like a snarl. "get back guys" I ordered.

"Night hunter, may I remind yo-"Black lily started, but I cut her off.

"no time for that now. I said get back!" I yelled. Every one took a big step back. I stepped forward, towards Dying thorn. We circled for a while, but then I got bored. I lunged for him, aiming at his throat. He stopped and dropped to his knees and stayed there. He hung his head, looking as though he had given up. I pushed him down and he didn't resist. I took off the bracelets and put them on him. At once they tightened and secured. I stood him up and walk past black lily.

"Take him to the Queen" I said, not looking at her.

I ran back to my room and fell on black's bed. I stayed there, ignoring every one and cried.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12. No flames please. **

12

I must have fallen asleep, because someone was shaking me.

"Night hunter, get up!" I grunted and slowly opened my eyes. Black was there, kneeling down beside me.

"What? Just leave me alone." I said pushing him away.

"The queen ordered you fifteen minutes ago, so you better get up." I nodded and rolled off the bed and landed on the floor with a thump. I picked myself up and walked slowly to the door. Black ride walked behind me, but I didn't ask why.

The royal chambers were busy. People were rushing with towels, bandages and liquids held in weird shaped bottles. Oxanna sat at the back, watching everyone. I walked straight to her, narrowly missing someone with a bunch of towels in their arms.

"You wanted to see me your highness?" I said.

"Yes night hunter, I wanted you to come with for a walk" I was surprised.

"You want me to come on a walk with you?" I asked. The queen laughed.

"Yes child. That is what I said." She got up off the chair gracefully and walked slowly out of the room. "Aren't you coming child?" she called, and I hurried after her.

She led me into the court yard, and sat down on a bench.

"Back in the royal chambers, you kept on calling me child. Why was that?" I asked, sitting down beside her.

"I called you child, because you are one. You are the youngest warrior in the world. All the other warriors who have qualified are in their late 1300's." I was silent while I thought about that. "And you could probably beat most of them too."

"Wow. My mother would have been proud." I said thoughtfully.

"She still is" the queen said.

"What do you mean? My mother left 500 years ago"

"And now she's back."

"What? You mean here? She back here? Right now?" I said excitedly. Oxanna nodded. "Well, where is she?"

"She's up in your room, waiting. I just needed a distraction while she got up there."

"Was that the people running about?"

"Yes"

"Well, can I go see her now?"

"Soon. Very soon. I just need to talk to you first. Nobody has told her about your brother. So don't mention it when she asks about him. Just say he's gone somewhere, but he hasn't told you. I'll tell her when she's ready." I nodded and ran back to my room without even saying goodbye.

I burst into my room and saw my mother sitting on my bed. Her tail curled gracefully round her arm, showing the three red rings on it. She sat like a proper lady, back straight and legs crossed. She had many more swords, knives and daggers than me. When she moved her weapons clanged together. I bounded towards and hugged her. Hard.

"Mother!" I cried

"Darling! It's so good to see you! Wow, you've grown so much! I can't believe I wasn't here to see it!" she said in her smooth voice.

"Well, you're here now!" I said.

"Yes I am, darling. I heard something special about you!" she said playfully.

"Really what is it?" I asked.

"I heard that you are the world's youngest Appian warrior!"

"Yep. It turns out I am. I just found out a few minutes ago"

"Really?" My mother and I talked and talked until Holly walked in with hope. Hope still had two red lines of blood running down her face, but she was better.

"Hi night hunter, I tried to clean up Hope the best I could. Who's this?" she said looking from me to my mother.

"This is my mother." I said.

"Oh, hello" she said and blushed, as if she should know who my mother was. Holly took hope to the bathroom, to clean up the rest of the blood.

"Who are they? They're human." My mother whispered.

"That's holly. She's one of the gifted, and she's my human. That's Hope, Black ride and I found her beside the lake, half dead. And now we found out she has a power. She has visions of the future and present." My mother nodded. "There is Sarren as well. I don't know where he went, but he is veela's human."

"Ahh I see. But why are they here? Have they shown power yet?"

"No I had to bring them here for their own safety."

"Why?"

"Holly's boyfriend was an immortal host. I had to kill him."

My mother looked shocked for a second, but then relaxed. "Well done honey" she put her arm round me and hugged me. "I have something to ask you. Where's dying thorn?" she asked suddenly.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13. No flames please. **

13

"He's….. Gone." I said, repeating what the queen said.

"Where?"

"I don't know, he never told me" I said, looking away.

"Night hunter, I know when you are lying. Where is he?" I gave up. I couldn't lie to her, she was my mother.

"He's in the prison." I said. My mother looked shocked.

"How could that be? He was such a good little boy"

"He's not a little boy now. And he tried to kill the queen."

"No!"

"Multiple times"

"No!"

"Yes. Here let me show you" I

Took her hand and led her out of the room to the prisons.

The guards at the prisons stopped us, but then let us through when they saw my mother. I led her through the winding corridors, ignoring the cries and yells of the inmates. I took her to the very last cell, which was on its own. Two guards stood there, blocking the way. They stood aside when they saw us. Dying thorn sat there in the dark. My mother and I stood at the bars. He flicked a coin, but said nothing. A thin gold chain looped around his ankle and attached to the wall. When he moved it made the slightest tinkle. Finally he stood up and walked towards us. The chain strained when he reached the bars, but I don't think he cared. He pressed his face to the bars and whispered,

"I'm not supposed to be here. It was him! He controlled me! I am innocent!" he finished and walked back to the bench. He sat back down and returned flicking the coin.

"Who controlled you?" I asked. Thorn's eyes glared at me.

"The immortal. Spirit keeper" he said abruptly. I nodded. It was Paul. I was sure of it.

"Who was it?" my mother asked.

"The immortal host I killed." I said without looking at her. There was an uncomfortable silence. I bent down and looked at the lock. It wasn't charmed; it was just a normal lock. I took note of it and stood up.

"Come on mother, let's go." I said and left. I bumped into Black ride on the way back to my room.

"Hey" I mumbled.

"Hi. Were you just at the assassin's cell?"

"Yeah can we go back to our room now?" I asked, leaning into him. He hugged me.

"Sure."

"Hold on. My mother should be here by now"

"Your mother's back?"

"Yeah."

"Well, she knows where our room is. I'm sure she'll find it"

"Yeah. I'm sure she will." I said and walked with Black ride up the stairs. Instead of sitting down on my bed, I went straight to the window. Our window looked over the lake, so of you looked out it at just the right angle; it looked as if you were floating above the water. I opened the window and leaned out. I breathed in the summer air and closed my eyes. After a while I came back in and shut the window. I picked up one of black's feathers and twirled it around. I had forgotten Black was there and he made me jump when he spoke.

"What are you thinking? You always pick up one my feathers when you're thinking about something disturbing."

"You're right. Now don't try and stop me, because I know what I'm doing" I said. I tied the feather I was holding into my hair. Once it was securely in, I opened the window again.

"Give my mother my love." I said and jumped out the window.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14. No flames please. **

14

The wind felt good against my face. The world just seemed to blur past me as I headed for the lake. I gracefully moved into a diving position and plunged into the cool water. I didn't resist; I just let the water engulf me. I slowly sank down to the bottom of the lake, waiting. I kept my eyes closed. When I opened them again, I was in a huge field. It was hard to tell if it was day or night here, but I never thought too much about it. I had been here once before, when my mother took me, if you are ever feeling uncertain about life, this is the place to go. She said. She never told Dying thorn about this, because he was not old enough. Every Appian learns about this when they are every time you visit it takes one year away from your life. Anyway, I was in a huge field. I was sitting down, so I stood up. I looked around and saw two figures coming towards me. It was my father and the king. They were two of the most precious people to me.

"Night hunter! It's such a nice surprise!" my father said. He didn't touch me, because he couldn't. He was dead. This was the place of meeting, or passing through, as the humans call it. This is where the humans thought they were decided if they went to heaven or hell. This is really just place where beings could speak with their loved ones. Only speak, not touch. If beings did touch, they would only pass through each other and both beings would feel only sadness. A few humans know how to get here, but it was almost impossible to get back.

"Hello father. Vicktor" I said bowing. The king was like a second father to me. When my father and mother were gone, he was there, treating me like his own child.

"Why are you here? Did you just miss us?" my father joked.

"No. I did miss you, but I need to ask you something." I said.

"What is it? You know you can ask us anything" my father smiled, showing off his perfect pointed teeth.

"Well, Dying thorn's in jail because he tried to kill the queen, but he said he was being controlled by an immortal, the same one I killed, and holly and Sarren know about me and what I am before their time, because I was bad at hiding myself to her and then I got banned from seeing her, and while I was gone, the vampires came and said something about one of their sisters was acting weird and it turned out that Paul, holly's boyfriend was the immortal, and I killed him and now mother's back and she wanted to see thorn, so I did and I I'm in love with black ride and I don't know what to do" I said in a big rush. I stood there, waiting for an answer. The three of us, just standing there, not touching, but wanting to.

"Well seems like you just need to relax and do things one at a time. You're still young, and you still have a lot of things to learn." said Vicktor, speaking for the first time.

"But what should I do first?" I asked.

"Do what you think is the most important, honey" said my father. He took a step back, his weapons clanging loudly. I nodded.

"Thank you both. I'm glad I can see you like this, because I wouldn't have known what to do if you weren't here to help" I said.

"No problem. Once thorn is out of jail, show him how to come here." Said my father.

"I will. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, I'm the youngest official warrior in the world" I said, smiling.

"That's my girl" my father said. "Tell your mother I send my love!"

"I will. Good bye father. Good bye Vicktor." I said, taking a long bow and returned to life.

I was still at the bottom of the lake, but I still had the same amount of breath I had when I went in, so I calmly swam to the surface. When my head broke the surface of the water, I saw Black ride hovering above me, his black wings beating hard.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" he yelled.

"Help me back to our room and I'll tell you about it!" I yelled back. I was lifted out of the water by black, and carried into the window I stumbled on the way in, and I fell. Dripping wet, I went in to the bath room to get a towel. I found one under the sink. Above the sink was a mirror and when I looked into it, I didn't see me. I saw a tired looking Appian, dripping wet, and had had looked like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards. I sighed. I really needed to get some rest. I walked back into the room, towelling my hair. The feather was still tied into my hair, so I just left it in. black ride was sitting on his bed, picking out stray feathers, and so was my mother. And holly and Sarren. Hope was there too, sitting on the floor.

"What?" I said sitting down on black's bed, since there was any room on mine.

"You jumped out the window!" holly cried.

"Yeah, so?" I asked. "You taught me that, mother. I needed some help, so I got it"

"How can you get help from the bottom of a lake? Holly asked dumbfounded.

"I'll tell you later" I said, not really planning to. Hope's eyes got a little red round the edges.

"Someone's going to come here, knock on the door and ask us to go down to the grand hall to watch the trial of Dying thorn in the next five seconds." Hope said. And guess what? five seconds later someone came knocking at the door asking us to come down to the grand hall to watch the trial of Dying thorn.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15. No flames please.**

15

We followed the guard to the grand hall where the trial was taking place. People sat on benches or stood. They all looked at me when we entered. Some of them whispered, isn't that night hunter? Let's hope she doesn't end up like him. I ignored them and sat down on the front bench. The queen sat in the middle of three chairs, facing us. The princess sat to her right. Dying thorn sat cuffed to the chair in front of the queen, facing her. My mother sat behind me, with black ride and hope. Everyone was silent when the queen spoke.

"We are here today to trial the case of Dying thorn for attempted murder. May we start?" the queen gestured towards a skinny appian, whose tail would not stop flicking.

"Yes your highness. First, May I call Dying thorn to the stand?" he said. Two burly guards took Dying thorn to the stand left of the queen.

"First, I would like to ask you why you tried to kill the queen" said the skinny Appian. Dying thorn sighed and lent back into his chair.

"You want to hear my story? Ok then. It all started when the great fire erupted. I was only, what 98 years old? When the fire broke out. My mother had just left to go on a secret mission and my sister, Night hunter was in charge of me. I was playing in the shadows with my sister. When suddenly, the fire burst out of the royal tower windows. People were running and screaming. Night hunter grabbed me and pulled me towards the front doors of the palace. It was then the beam fell on me. It fell on my chest, pinning me to the floor. I looked around for night hunter, but she was not there. She had left me to die. I cried for help, but no words came out. As my lungs filled with smoke, I lost consciousness. Then I passed out.

When I woke up, I was in a dark cave. The only light came from the candle beside me. I wondered how I got there. I don't remember being saved. I called for the one who saved me, but the only voice that came back was in my head. It wasn't my own voice, it was somebody else's. Hello dying thorn. I hope will enjoy my company for a while. I shuddered. I did not know who this was, or why they saved me. I'm spirit keeper. You may call me spirit. I saved you because you have use to me. Your sister left you to die. She never loved you. She wanted you to die. I saved you.

"You're lying!" I yelled. But to whom was I yelling to? "Night hunter loved me! She never would have left me if she could help it!" then why did she leave you? Spirit said. Spirit keeper had me trapped here. I didn't know where to go if I wanted to go back to the palace. So my only choice was to stay.

As weeks went by, spirit filled me with hate and revenge for night hunter. He made me believe that she left me to die. I trained myself in combat and spirit taught me things mentally. He taught me how I could control things with my mind, how to telepathically look into others minds. The only problem with that is when I do something mentally; I get these bright blue stripes all over my body. I became good at fighting and spirit sent me off to the palace. He told me to keep secret, but to watch the fighters train. He said I could learn from them. And I did. I trained for years, holding onto the only thing that mattered. Killing someone close to night hunter. Then one day while I was training he told me to take a little girl from her family. She has a helpful skill. I can sense it. Keep her and use her as much as you can.

So I stole her away during the night when humans usually sleep. She didn't scream for help she just stared at me with shocked eyes. As I carried her off into the night, she asked me why I took her.

"You have something I can use." The girl didn't panic or try to attack. When we got to the cave I set her down. She just sat there, looking at me. I sat down in front of her. I looked into her mind. I found basic information, mother, father, but nothing useful.

When the time came to kill, spirit told me who I should aim for. The queen, the most precious person to night hunter apart from her human and her mother. I had one simple plan. Get in kill the queen when she was asleep, the get out. What made me fail was the vampire. It came from behind me, teeth ripping into my throat. I fought it off, escaping just in time.

I tried again, prompted by spirit. But this time night hunter and her boyfriend got in the way. I tried once more, but failed again. I stole off back to the cave, being tormented by spirit. Why didn't you kill her? Don't you remember? She left you to die! If I hadn't come and saved you, you would have been ashes!

"But she's my sister"

So? She left you to die! You could have killed the winged one as well! I ignored the insults and shut down my mind to its natural numbness. When I woke up spirit was silent. Without really thinking about it, I headed off to the palace. When I got to it, I climbed in through the roof. I crawled across the ceiling, keeping silent. I stayed there until night hunter was under me, and then I would attack her. But she saw me first. She told her boyfriend, the winged one. He shot up and attacked me. I dropped down, heading for night hunter. But she pinned me down.

"Why are you here?" she growled.

"I'm to get revenge for leaving me in the fire!" and I used one of my secret weapons. I could teleport. I teleported behind one of the rookies. I grabbed her and held a dagger to her throat.

"Come near me or she dies" I said, meaning this for night hunter. She laughed.

"Oh, I won't come near you, but he will." She gestured to the winged one. He took the rookie and the dagger from my hands. I looked around.

"Nine against one? That doesn't seem very fair know does it?" I grinned.

"No. I don't. That's why it should just be you and me" Night hunter grinned back at me. She yelled at the others to get back. We circled for a while, not taking our eyes off of each other. Finally night hunter lunged at me. Something happened. Some inside my head. Something left and I didn't know where I was and why I was doing this. I realized that I should've just returned home. I didn't need to do this. I dropped to my knees and gave in. night hunter handcuffed me. She left and the others put me in jail." Everybody was silent. The queen spoke calmly.

"Thank you dying thorn. May we have Night hunter come to the stand?" the queen nodded.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 17. No flames please. **

17

I stood up and walked over to my mother. She looked at me, but said nothing. I held her hand and pulled her towards the stands. When she resisted, I pulled harder. The guards had let dying thorn go, and he was walking towards us. The hall was crowded, but they cleared a path when dying thorn came close. We met in the middle, not talking. What do we do now? Said a voice inside my head. My eyes widened and looked at dying thorn. Dying thorn had those blue stripes appearing on him. Dying thorn nodded. We try and help the vampires. Oh, and try not to kill anyone. He nodded. The vampires are been kept in the second tower. Is it true then, what you said? About the immortal controlling you? Yes. Then how? - I'll explain later, but right now mother's going to attack me. My mother, oblivious to the conversation between us, did attack dying thorn. Dying thorn ready for this blocked her.

"What are you doing?" I yelled. My mother didn't seem to hear me. She was focused on dying thorn. She had managed to grasp dying thorn's throat. She spoke to him in a langue that was unfamiliar. Everybody stopped to watch the fight. The other guards didn't bother to stop her. Then suddenly, dying thorn disappeared. My mother stood up, and looked around. Dying thorn had appeared beside me. My mother stormed towards him, but I stopped her.

"Mother, what are you doing?" I asked, grabbing her shoulders. She didn't answer, she just snarled. "Mother! This isn't you!" I cried. She stopped struggling and slumped forwards into my arms. Dying thorn, who was standing beside me, said?

"What just happened?" he whispered. I didn't answer. I just led my mother out of the grand hall.

My mother was still crying when we reached my room. Dying thorn followed us silently. I sat my mother down on my bed rubbing her shoulders. We were all silent for a while. I didn't know where black ride had gone. Dying thorn was playing with his tail, flicking it back and forth.

"I don't know what came over me. I was just so angry that my son had tried to kill the queen. My own son." She broke down again. I walked over to dying thorn and whispered to him.

"Do you know what she said to you when she spoke in that language?" he nodded. "Well, what did she say?"

"She was speaking in old tongue. She said, you do not belong here. Nobody wants you. You are an outcast."

"Old tongue? Nobody speaks that anymore" I said.

"I do. So does mother apparently." Dying thorn lent back on dark rides bed, his weapons clanging as he did so.

"Mother wouldn't have said something like that." I said, frowning.

"It might be that spirit keeper has a friend." Said dying thorn.

"Or, it might be spirit keeper himself." I said grimly.

"What do you mean? You killed him, didn't you?"

"I killed someone he had taken the spirit of. His actual body is somewhere else. But it'll have to wait. We need to help the vampires first." He nodded and stood up off the bed. Mother was wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Where are you two going?"

"I'm going to see the vampires. Dying thorn needs to come with me remember?" I said, already at the door.

"Oh yes. You go, I'll stay here"

"Yes mother."

We walked quietly to the second tower.

"You can explain to me everything now" I said suddenly. Dying thorn shrugged.

"What do you want to know?" he asked. I thought about this. Suddenly I knew what I wanted to ask.

"Why did you attack so many times?"

"Most of them were because of spirit keeper. He slowly took control of me when I was weakest and used me for his own purposes." Dying thorn sighed and stopped walking. "Do you trust me?" he asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you trust me? After what I've done to you?" I thought about this.

"Not completely. I mean, you did try to kill someone close to me."

"I know. But I was being controlled by someone else."

"Why didn't you find your way back to the castle when you woke up? I mean, you weren't being physically held in that cave were you?"

"No I wasn't. But once spirit keeper was inside my head, I knew if I came back, he would get to everyone else." He started walking again.

"So you didn't come back for 500 years because you were afraid spirit keeper was going to get into other people's heads?" I asked.

"Not just anyone's head, yours"

"Mine?"

"Yes. I was so afraid of spirit keeper getting side of your head, I stayed where I was, wherever I was and did what he told me to do." I was about to reply, but we got to the vampires room. I rapped on the door twice and entered.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17. No flames please. **

17

I stood up and walked over to my mother. She looked at me, but said nothing. I held her hand and pulled her towards the stands. When she resisted, I pulled harder. The guards had let dying thorn go, and he was walking towards us. The hall was crowded, but they cleared a path when dying thorn came close. We met in the middle, not talking. What do we do now? Said a voice inside my head. My eyes widened and looked at dying thorn. Dying thorn had those blue stripes appearing on him. Dying thorn nodded. We try and help the vampires. Oh, and try not to kill anyone. He nodded. The vampires are been kept in the second tower. Is it true then, what you said? About the immortal controlling you? Yes. Then how? - I'll explain later, but right now mother's going to attack me. My mother, oblivious to the conversation between us, did attack dying thorn. Dying thorn ready for this blocked her.

"What are you doing?" I yelled. My mother didn't seem to hear me. She was focused on dying thorn. She had managed to grasp dying thorn's throat. She spoke to him in a langue that was unfamiliar. Everybody stopped to watch the fight. The other guards didn't bother to stop her. Then suddenly, dying thorn disappeared. My mother stood up, and looked around. Dying thorn had appeared beside me. My mother stormed towards him, but I stopped her.

"Mother, what are you doing?" I asked, grabbing her shoulders. She didn't answer, she just snarled. "Mother! This isn't you!" I cried. She stopped struggling and slumped forwards into my arms. Dying thorn, who was standing beside me, said?

"What just happened?" he whispered. I didn't answer. I just led my mother out of the grand hall.

My mother was still crying when we reached my room. Dying thorn followed us silently. I sat my mother down on my bed rubbing her shoulders. We were all silent for a while. I didn't know where black ride had gone. Dying thorn was playing with his tail, flicking it back and forth.

"I don't know what came over me. I was just so angry that my son had tried to kill the queen. My own son." She broke down again. I walked over to dying thorn and whispered to him.

"Do you know what she said to you when she spoke in that language?" he nodded. "Well, what did she say?"

"She was speaking in old tongue. She said, you do not belong here. Nobody wants you. You are an outcast."

"Old tongue? Nobody speaks that anymore" I said.

"I do. So does mother apparently." Dying thorn lent back on dark rides bed, his weapons clanging as he did so.

"Mother wouldn't have said something like that." I said, frowning.

"It might be that spirit keeper has a friend." Said dying thorn.

"Or, it might be spirit keeper himself." I said grimly.

"What do you mean? You killed him, didn't you?"

"I killed someone he had taken the spirit of. His actual body is somewhere else. But it'll have to wait. We need to help the vampires first." He nodded and stood up off the bed. Mother was wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Where are you two going?"

"I'm going to see the vampires. Dying thorn needs to come with me remember?" I said, already at the door.

"Oh yes. You go, I'll stay here"

"Yes mother."

We walked quietly to the second tower.

"You can explain to me everything now" I said suddenly. Dying thorn shrugged.

"What do you want to know?" he asked. I thought about this. Suddenly I knew what I wanted to ask.

"Why did you attack so many times?"

"Most of them were because of spirit keeper. He slowly took control of me when I was weakest and used me for his own purposes." Dying thorn sighed and stopped walking. "Do you trust me?" he asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you trust me? After what I've done to you?" I thought about this.

"Not completely. I mean, you did try to kill someone close to me."

"I know. But I was being controlled by someone else."

"Why didn't you find your way back to the castle when you woke up? I mean, you weren't being physically held in that cave were you?"

"No I wasn't. But once spirit keeper was inside my head, I knew if I came back, he would get to everyone else." He started walking again.

"So you didn't come back for 500 years because you were afraid spirit keeper was going to get into other people's heads?" I asked.

"Not just anyone's head, yours"

"Mine?"

"Yes. I was so afraid of spirit keeper getting side of your head, I stayed where I was, wherever I was and did what he told me to do." I was about to reply, but we got to the vampires room. I rapped on the door twice and entered.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18. No flames please.**

18

The vampires, amber, Onyx, Opal, Garnet, Jade, Ruby, Sapphire and Azurite were either standing or sitting very still. Topaz was nowhere to be seen. They relaxed when they saw me, but bared their teeth when they saw dying thorn.

"What is he doing here?" garnet said, standing up from the chair she was sitting in. Garnet was the second oldest, followed by onyx, azurite, ruby, jade, sapphire, opal, amber then topaz. The oldest of the vampire sisters, amethyst, disappeared 1900 years ago, when the last few vampires lived on the earth. Everyone knew she wasn't dead, just nobody knew where she had gone.

"Didn't you hear the trial? He has to stay with me, the queen said so."

"I'm glad we don't have a queen like that" said ruby stretching like a cat and leaning back into her chair. "I couldn't stand having following me so closely, especially being followed by someone who has physic abilities."

"It ain't a walk in the park; I'll tell you" I grinned at her and asked, "so where's topaz?" I asked it casually, but everyone froze. A faint scratching came from the door opposite me.

"She's in there" said azurite, jerking her head towards the door. "Can't let her out though, she'll go berserk if she smells blood. Sent a goat in there yesterday, body drained dry in 2 minutes."

"Well, I need to see her." I said. Nine pairs of eyes turned to look at me.

"What?" said garnet, her shocked eyes widened. "You can't go in there! She'll kill you!" I smiled.

"Don't worry. I've got dying thorn to throw in front of me is she attacks us."

"Thanks" said dying thorn sarcastically.

"So why do you need to talk to her anyway?" said onyx, yawning. I could see her primary and secondary fangs glinting in the little light that shone in the room.

"It's about why she's crazy, isn't it?" asked amber, the second youngest and the only one with psychic abilities.

"Yes" I said, walking towards the door where topaz was being held.

Garnet grabbed my arm. "Just one thing you have to remember; do not let her leave that room, understand?" she gave me a stern look and let go.

"It's you funeral" muttered sapphire under her breath as I opened the door and walked in the room.

It was dark and the stench of death was everywhere. The only window was covered up by an old sheet. I walked slowly into the middle of the room, dying thorn following me closely. I didn't notice him take a dagger out of my belt until he pushed me down and grabbed topaz by the neck. She bared her teeth and tried to escape. Dying thorn just held her tighter and pressed the dagger to her throat.

"Topaz, listen, we just want to talk to you." I talked quietly to her.

"Let. Me. Go!" she growled.

"Now why would we do that?" I asked. Topaz Ignored me. She turned, well, tried to turn to dying thorn.

"You know what its like, don't you? Not having a personal thought to you. Having someone else in your head. I drive you insane, and then he controls you, doesn't he? He did that to you didn't he? He made you try and kill you own sister? Didn't he?" she hissed in his ear. Topaz kept on struggling. Then suddenly she went limp.

"What did you do?" I yelled.

"Shhh! I just gave her a mental thought and she collapsed."

"What thought did you give her?"

"I honestly don't know, I was planning for painful one, you know, but then she just passed out." Dying thorn didn't loosen his grip on topaz but he did relax a little. He set her on a chair and stood back topaz stirred a little and groaned.

"Let's get out of here before she wakes up" I said quietly, slightly pushing dying thorn towards the door.

"Right. But before we do that, can I try something?" dying thorn walked over to topaz and placed his hands on either side of her head. Topaz groaned again and her eyes fluttered open. "Don't worry. This shouldn't hurt" he said topaz, finally realizing what dying thorn had just said, looked at him worryingly.

"Shouldn't?" she said and then topaz started to whimper. Not the kind of whimper that an animal makes when it's hurt, but something else. It was like she was whimpering to some inner pain. After what seemed like hours, dying thorn stepped back from topaz. Topaz slumped backwards into the chair and fell unconscious.

"What did you do?" I asked him, studying topaz intently.

"I'll explain later. Right now, we should really get out of here. When topaz wakes up, she will probably kill us." dying thorn walked over to the door and left.

"Oh like she hasn't tried to do that before." I said sarcastically, following dying thorn out of the room.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19. No flames please. **

19

Eight pairs of eyes stared at us with amazement as we walk into the middle of the room. Sapphire was the first one to speak.

"Well now, I did not expect you two to live after that" she said sipping something red from a wine glass.

"But we did and now we are leaving" I said turning for the door.

"Wait!" opal called. "Is there anything you can tell us about what's wrong with topaz?"

"No. we have no such information right now, but I will keep you informed if such knowledge is acquired."

"What?" asked onyx.

"If I have any information about topaz I will tell you"

"Ahhh"

"Yeah. Now you get it" I said sarcastically and left.

We didn't talk on the back to my room. It seemed to take forever. When we did get back, black ride came to meet us.

"Where have you been? Your mother didn't see where you went and she was threating to kill me if I didn't find you two." He said, staring at me.

"Now why would she do that I wonder?" I said and smiled. Dying thorn rolled my eyes and walked past me.

"You're crazy, you know that?" black said. He lent closer and kissed me. I was surprised for a moment, but then I relaxed I let his arms surround me. I put my arms around his neck and kissed him back.

"Ahem." Someone said behind us. We broke apart. My mother, holly, hope, Sarren and IRO were sitting or standing in the room.

"If you people are going to be here more often, then I'm gonna need a bigger room." I said.

"Hey, it's my room too." Black ride said, elbowing me in the ribs. Hard.

"Ow" I muttered. "So what are all of you doing here anyway?"

"Just a group discussion about what we need to do" my mother said casually.

"Well, we need to help topaz first." I said, sitting on black's bed, because there wasn't any room on my bed. Black sat down beside me. Dying thorn stood by the door.

"Your right. We need to help the vampires." My mother nodded.

"Well, what's wrong with topaz?" IRO said, speaking up for once.

"Where have you been?" I said, walking over to him and hugging him. IRO, not the one for hugs, stood ridge for a moment, but then relaxed and hugged me back.

"So again, I repeat, what's wrong with topaz?"

"She was once controlled by an immortal, but then she lost it, going crazy and whatnot." Dying thorn said before I could say a word. The whole room froze when he spoke. Nobody trusted him like I did. Iro look astonished, but nodded, and look like he understood. Werewolves are immune to an immortals control.

"so what do we do?" my mother asked, aiming the question at me, but once again dying thorn answered.

"not much. She might pass over it, but that's very unlikely."

"how come you're such an expert?" Sarren said, sounding annoyed.

"because I have experienced it first-hand! You don't know what's its like have someone else inside your head, knowing everything you know, knowing your deepest, darkest secrets. Then while you're vulnerable, it takes control of you. It's like being a ghost inside your own mind. You can't do anything, you can't see anything, and you wait and only hope that it will end soon." The whole room went into an uncomfortable silence. Dying thorn was the only one who looked the slightest bit relaxed. Hope sat absolutely still, staring at dying thorn.

"well, this is awkward" I said. Then something flickered in the back of my mind. What had my father said?

Once thorn is out of jail, take him to us yes. I need to take him to father and the king.

"umm, I might need to jump out the window again." I said, making everyone look at me. Then suddenly they all spoke at once.

"no you can't do that! Why? Don't!"

"I'm sorry but it is the easiest way to go. And besides, it's not like I'm gonna kill myself is it?" I joked. "it was something father said to me. I need to take dying thorn with me too."

"wait, take me where?" dying thorn asked, just realizing I was talking about him.

"I'm taking you to the place of meeting."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20. No flames please. **

20

"And we need to jump out the window to get to it?" he asked.

"Yes. It is the easiest way to get to it."

"How old are you dying thorn?" I asked.

"598" he said. Wow. I did not expect that. Ignoring everyone else in the room, I opened the window.

"Follow me and do exactly what I do. Understand?" I asked. Dying thorn nodded. I was just about to jump when a hand caught my arm.

"Don't do this." It said. But I ignored it. I jumped out the window, praying the dying thorn was following me.

I plunged into the water, remembering to take a breath in time. I felt someone grab onto my arm. I looked round, seeing dying thorn looking at me. Just relax, don't panic. Just let the water come over you and close your eyes. I saw him nod and close his eyes. I noticed he had faint blue stripes as he read my thoughts. I closed my eyes too, feeling the worries slip away. When I opened them again, I was back in the field. Father and the king were walking towards me. A few seconds later dying thorn appeared beside me.

"Where are we?"

"This is the place of meeting. Mother was supposed to show you this when you were 100, but father requested I do it instead."

"Father?" I nodded. We waited until father and the king reached us. They took their time, and seemed to enjoy it. I was not in a patient mood today. My father greeted us with a warm smile. The king followed suit.

"Father?" dying thorn couldn't believe his eyes. There was his dead father and the dead king right in front of him, acting as though they had never died. He had never met his father as he died before he was born.

"Ahh dying thorn, it's brilliant to finally see you" my father didn't make any attempt to hug him or shake his hand. He just stood there, looking at him with sad eyes. Dying thorn meanwhile was looking around the field in amazement.

"Where are we?" he said again.

"We are in the place of meeting. Surely night hunter would have filled you in about this place?" the king said.

"Err, no I haven't. I've been through a lot these past few days, you about the vampires,"

"There isn't anything you can do about topaz night hunter, she's long gone, unless she can make it out herself." dying thorn butted in. I shot him a dirty look. He looked back at me and grinned. He laughed and looks away, looking thoughtful.

"Remember who trusted you to be alone with you?" I asked authority I never knew I had slipping into my voice.

"You"

"That's right. And who trusted to be with you in a room full of vampires?"

"You."

"That's right. And who has trusted you after what you've done, when even your own mother wouldn't trust you and even attacked you?"

"You"

"That's right. Now you don't ever think you are in a position to interrupt me or even think of hurting anyone else again. 'Because I'm the one who can send you right back to jail for life." I stood there breathing hard. It felt good to get that off my chest. The hint of blue stripes appeared on dying thorns face again. I groaned and put my head in my hands.

"Night hunter, it's okay to be angry about someone for what they've done. But you can't take it all out on your brother." My father said reassuringly. But I wasn't having any of it.

"I have every right to! He tried to kill the queen! He tried to kill me! I have every right to be mad at him!" I was furious. I shouldn't have let the queen make her choice. I sneaked a peek at dying thorn. His stripes were bright blue.

Everyone looked astonished, well except from dying thorn, which was still black and blue. The king, who had known me since birth, was shocked to see me this way. I'm not a mind reader; it was just clearly shown on his face. My father was a whole different story. He had looked astonished, then sad, then confused, and then he suddenly went neutral.

"This isn't like you, night hunter." The king took a step towards me, but he stopped.

I suddenly couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm going home"


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 22. No flames please. **

22

As I came back to the land of the living, I took dying thorn away too. We were both still under water, so all I could do to him was give him an glare that would of scared black ride away and send a mental thought. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I took my anger out on you, I'm sorry I didn't manage to get you out from under the beam fast enough, I'm sorry that you got taken over by an immortal, I'm sorry. I looked at him. He was black and blue again, as he read my thoughts. I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for not trying to come back, I'm sorry I kidnapped that girl, I'm sorry I tried to kill the queen and I'm sorry I tried to kill you. I nodded. We surfaced and took grateful breaths of air. We swam back to the shore and crawled out on to the gritty, sharp rocks. I shook myself out.

"You so need to teach me that" I said, grinning.

"What?"

"The mental thingy" I said, standing up.

"Later." Dying thorn said. He concentrated, and then looked at me worryingly.

"What?" I asked.

"Topaz has escaped her room." Dying thorn said, already running off towards the castle.

We went straight to the vampire's room, practically sprinting down the halls. We burst into the room, looking around, the vampires stood in a fight stance, statue still, clothes ripped, scratched and bruised. Where the door leading to topaz's room was, there was now a gaping hole, the actual door flung halfway across the room.

"Oh, hi" said opal, The First to relax.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Topaz escaped from her room, yelling in some strange language, her eyes violet, can vampire eyes even go that colour? Anyway, she went crazy, and escaped through the window."

"We need to find her" Dying thorn said.

"Ya think?" I replied, running out the door.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 23. This is the last chapter of the story. Hope you enjoyed it somewhat, if you've even read this far. If you have, I am very impressed. Still no flames please. **

23

We searched for her for ages, but there was no sign of her.

"Come on. We need to go back now." I said. We headed back to the dorms. When we got there, everybody hugged me. They ignored the dying thorn.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Its hope" said holly, tears in her eyes. She took me by the hand and led me through to the hospital ward. On the bed, was hope? She was covered in blood, and writhing. The queen was sitting beside her, cleaning her face.

"What happened?" I asked, sitting beside her.

"It's the final stages" said the queen, not looking up.

"Final stage of what?"

"It's what every gifted goes through. It's kind of like a final process of their gift setting in."

"When will it stop?" I asked.

"It depends. It can take a few minutes to a few days." Said someone behind me.

I turned round. It was black ride. I didn't even hear him come up behind me. He sat down beside me.

"I hope is only a few minutes" I said, leaning against him. Suddenly dying thorn stood ridged and breathed quickly through his teeth.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worry ringing in my voice.

But he just stood there, looking as if he was in pain. He staggered to a chair and sat down. He still couldn't speak. With his head in his hands dying thorn collapsed. I stood up to help him, but the queen shook her head.

"Leave him. He's seeing what hope's seeing, and it probably hurts him a lot." So I just sat there, unable to move, unable to help. Black ride left after a while, but came right back.

It took 2 hours, but finally hopes tear ceased and dying thorn relaxed. Dying thorn slowly stood up and sat back down on the chair.

"What happened with you?" I asked. Dying thorn rubbed his eyes.

"I don't know. I was looking at hope, and then suddenly I was somewhere else. I don't know where, but I was in pain. Then I saw him the immortal. The one that took control of me." The room was silent. Hope stirred. The queen signalled to one of the nurses. She came rushing over. The queen spoke quietly to her. The nurse nodded.

"Night hunter, Black ride, you can go now. Dying thorn, you go get some rest here." The queen nodded and left the room. I took Black rides hand and we both walked out of the room silently.

We were just at the front door, meaning to go outside to the court yard, when someone stopped us. He looked just like Black ride, except he had blue eyes, curly blonde hair and white wings. He was wearing a simple white cotton robe and his feet were bare. I looked at black ride, just to make sure he saw him too. Black ride looked grim. He took a few steps towards the man.

"Hello father"


End file.
